Blue and White alleges Netanyahu, Regev sought to politicize the event.
By JEREMY SHARON MARCH 10, 2021 13:49
New Ethiopian immigrants are seen at Ben-Gurion Airport on one of the first aliyah flights of the new year, on January 1, 2021. (photo credit: OLIVIA FITOUSI/JAFI)
An ugly political spat broke out on Wednesday between Blue and White and the Likud Party over the scheduled welcoming ceremony on Thursday for 200 Ethiopian immigrants, culminating in the cancellation of the event by Aliyah and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata. According to sources in Tamano-Shata’sher office, Transportation Minister Miri Regev demanded that the Attorney-General’s office stop Blue and White leader Benny Gantz from attending the ceremony, leading Gantz to announce himself not to participate.
Netanyahu then decided that he would himself attend the event, leading Tamano-Shata to cancel the celebration altogether.
A spokesman for Regev did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Some 300 immigrants from the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia are scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday, completing the first stage of Operation Rock of Israel in which the government approved 2,000 members of the community to immigrate to the Jewish state.
Both the Likud and Blue and White are vying strongly for the vote of the community, a contest which appears to be the cause of Wednesday’s political fight. Earlier, Gantz had said that the arrival of the new immigrants should not be turned into a political “circus” which he accused Netanyahu of doing by sending Regev.He added that Blue and White would demand that the remainder of the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia be brought to Israel in any coalition agreement it signs to enter a new government after the election.